THE LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH, PROVINCE OF THE UNITED STATES EASTER 2017 Ubique ‘Soar we now where Christ hath led’ Easter where om INDEX 1 EASTER 2 RESURRECTION 5 SPIRITUAL REFRESHMENT 7 THE EPISCOPAL RING Manshape, that shone 8 Sheer off, disseveral, a star, death blots black out; nor mark THE RT REV IAN Is any of him at all so stark HOOKER EULOGIES But vastness blurs and time beats level. Enough! the Resurrection, 13 a heart’s–clarion! Away grief ’s gasping, joyless days, dejection. PROVINCIAL NEWS Across my foundering deck shone A beacon, an eternal beam. Flesh fade, and mortal trash 14 Fall to the residuary worm; world’s wildfire, leave but ash: PARISH NEWS In a flash, at a trumpet crash, 15 I am all at once what Christ is, since he was what I am, and PUBLICATION DATA This Jack, joke, poor postherd, patch, matchwood, immortal diamond, Is immortal diamond. Gerard Manley Hopkins excerpt from That Nature is a Hericlitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection Tintoretto The Resurrection of Christ ADVENIAT REGNUM TUUM http://www.thelccusa.org/ 1 THE LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH, PROVINCE OF THE UNITED STATES EASTER 2017 ‘open for eternity’ Resurrection The Rt. Rev. William S.H. Downey Archbishop, Province of the United States The Central message of Christianity is indeed the fact of the Resurrection. The Resurrection is the foundation of our Faith. St Paul says in I Cor 15:14, “If Christ be not raised from the dead our preaching is in vain.” (King James Version) But the New International Version says it in modern language perhaps a little stronger: “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” It is the single most important truth of Christianity. The Risen Victorious Christ is the chief cornerstone upon which we are built! But the wonderful fact of His resurrection is not just that one man overcame death. It is instead that in Him and through Him we are all partakers of his Victory. In the words of Sacred Scripture, “As in Adam all die”—that is to say death is the common lot of all humanity—“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Cor 15:22 Encountering the Risen Christ is a personal Experience. When the women went to the tomb they encountered the Angel who invited them to “come and see” where the Lord lay. See for themselves, discover the fact of his rising individually, prove the reality of his Victory within their own experience! The disciples at this point had not yet met the Risen Christ. They were hidden away in a room behind locked doors: locked in anxiety, locked in dread, locked in fear, locked in failure, locked in a sense of abandonment and betrayal. But the women were not preoccupied with themselves and their fears and anxieties, they were more concerned with the task at hand, to go and anoint the body of the Lord. They were engaged in the moment. The Risen Lord is to be experienced in the moment. There was a Jesuit priest, Jean-Pierre de Caussade, who lived in the 1700s, who wrote a wonderful little book entitled The Sacrament of the Present Moment. His thoughts were that each and every moment is an opportunity to see and discover God even in the small seemingly insignificant events of Life. We may seek God in His Perfection and yet it lies in everything that happens to us; our sufferings, our actions, our impulses are the mysteries under which God reveals Himself to us! Every moment in Life is an opportunity to experience the Victorious Life of Christ and an opportunity to express that wondrous Life in sacrifice and loving service. Every breath we take, every thought we have, every action we make can be a Sacramental Act. We can become living Sacraments, that is outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace! Most Protestant Churches teach there are only two sacraments, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Catholic and Orthodox tradition is that there are seven Sacraments. I’d go further and say there are innumerable sacraments. The World at any given moment is filled with individual lives going about their daily business of living who represent “outward and visible signs” of inward and hidden realities. And not only individuals but circumstances, relationships, conditions, situations, challenges, all can represent “outward and visible” symbols of deeper more meaningful truths. ADVENIAT REGNUM TUUM http://www.thelccusa.org/ 2 THE LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH, PROVINCE OF THE UNITED STATES EASTER 2017 Those inner realities are waiting to be uncovered, the outward masks removed, stones to be rolled away! So, the angel said, “Come and see.” Do some investigation on your own. Our own Bishop Leadbeater often has said in talks and in writings that we should not accept anything he said based on his authority but that we should prove it for ourselves. Our Statement of Principles declares, “A Truth is not a Truth until a person knows it for themselves.” Experiencing the risen Christ is a personal thing. I have often thought that when the Angel moved the Stone away from the Tomb it certainly was not to let Christ out! We know from later Gospel accounts the Risen Christ was not hindered or deterred by physical obstacles as He passed through walls and locked doors with ease! No, the stone was rolled away to allow us to find entrance to the empty tomb. It is our ingress to discovery! Look at the evidence, see if it is real or not! Make sure you own this one fact of history. He invites you to investigate. The Resurrection is given to those who seek and find, who knock and it is opened to them. It is given to those who will make a decision based upon a thorough investigation. Discovery of the Resurrected Lord is the mission of Soul Essence (the women) engaged in the moment. He is not found by the intellect, or willpower, or human imagination, or any of the other unregenerate aspects of our character represented and symbolized by the disciples cowering behind locked doors of fear and anxiety. Even after the women and other disciples encounter Our Risen Lord, they do not recognize him in the Garden. Mary thought he was a gardener; on the Road to Emmaus Cleopas and the other disciple thought he was a stranger; in the upper room the apostles mistook him for a ghost; and later when Peter and the others were fishing they still did not initially recognize Him. God comes to us under a hundred different disguises! Perhaps we may encounter Him in our cleaning lady or the checker at the supermarket instead of a gardener. Or perhaps we will meet Him in a health challenge or disappointment on the job. Maybe we will have the opportunity to meet Him in some other masquerade! A game I love to play with my granddaughter is Peek-a-boo. Every time I cover my face and hide myself from her view, she waits with great expectation for the next reveal and the wonderful expression of Peek-a-Boo! It is new and exciting every time. She never tires of it and frankly neither do I! Because it is not only a fun playtime experience for us; it is at another deeper level an opportunity to connect. It becomes an expression of Love. In a real way it is sacramental. I think God loves to play Peek-a-Boo with us. So really the Easter story is not just about one man’s survival of the change we call death. It is more importantly about Victory over Death in this Life right now. Eternity is Now! He’s Alive! It’s about the Way Shower and the Victor over Death who demonstrates the Truth of the Risen Life for all of us right now! Death has been conquered forever—we do have a story! ADVENIAT REGNUM TUUM http://www.thelccusa.org/ 3 THE LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH, PROVINCE OF THE UNITED STATES EASTER 2017 The first part to the Angel’s message to the women was “come and see;” the second part of their message was “go and tell.” Matt 28:5 “And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come; see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead.” • Go and tell those beaten down, defeated disciples—who think the world has come to an end— that it has not! He’s alive! • Go and tell that misunderstood teenager who doesn’t know what to believe. There is hope! The tomb is empty. • Go and tell the neighbor who thinks a good life is all there is to it. Go and tell them there is hope: death is no longer a wall, but a door. You are no longer trapped in a body of death, but Christ now invites you to step into eternity with Him. We who have discovered the Risen Christ are raised to newness of Life right now. We step into the resurrected life now. Eternity is NOW. God’s door doesn’t say “do not disturb.” His says, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” God’s door is open 24/7. The door to the tomb is open for eternity.